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When I arrived at Melville; activity was not going full bore with
the nets and I believe that running the launches back and forth to
Prudence Island was really a primary duty for most of the guys
along with maintaining the engines and the boats. Those guys had
to work in some pretty tough weather and it was cold and
dangerous. We had a complement of between 30 or 40 guys at
Melville and a small crew at Prudence Island, (Naval
Ammunition Dump manned by Civilians and overseen by a Navy crew).
It was across the bay from Melville.
The Marines had a small unit assigned to guard the North Gate
and the perimeters, the north side belonging to a civilian
population. The guys made friends with a gal named Marcia
who would come over to the galley and make fudge or other goodies
for the guys, (no hanky-panky, just a fun thing for the guys).
Commander Brown, who was the CO of Melville also had
jurisdiction over Prudence Island. Melville was a great tour of
duty; we had a basketball team and a great softball team, losing
to the Newport Naval Team by one run for the championship. They
tried to assemble a football team, but did not have enough men to
make it work. The Base also had Ship's Service and a Barber.
The USS Yosemite was
tied up at Melville and the running joke was that it was stuck in
coffee grounds, it was there so long. The Net Tender USS
Tonawanda also came into Melville while I was
stationed there.
Another one of my great memories is of the Master-At-Arms we
had for Building 44; he was a 1st Class Boatswain with 44 years in
service; a grumpy old guy, but I believe everyone thought a lot of
him. He had a right to be grumpy with that much time in
service.
It was a great experience for me at Melville and I am sorry to
say, I have no contacts with any of the guys who were there. I
made 2nd Class Commissaryman at Melville and was transferred to
the USS Harwood (DDE-861)
where I remained until my discharge in June 1955.
Note: Tony would have stayed
in for the full 20 years if he had made 1st Class before he got
out, however back in the early 1950's, there was no service-wide
competition for rate; there had to be an opening where you were
stationed. Tony had taken and passed his examination for 1st Class
and would have made the rate except that the Navy stationed an old
reserve 1st Class Petty Officer on the Harwood just before the results came back and there was no longer an opening for Tony to
advance in rate.
In Closing - Melville is no longer a Navy Base and now has
civilian boat facilities and restaurants.
Any old Shipmates of Tony or former Melville Sailors can
contact him at Nortone2@yahoo.com
or you can write to him at:
Tony Walker
3753 East Ave I. Space 111
Lancaster, CA 93535
Tony states, "I would really enjoy hearing from
someone."
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